Statements of support from Kansas University athletics officials “ring hollow,” says the woman who last week accused two Jayhawk football players of sexually assaulting her.
“Only after I contacted police and the story of the attack on me was reported in the newspaper did the KU athletic department issue statements that appear to offer me support and encouragement,” the woman, a KU soccer player, wrote in a statement she released Thursday.
“Where was the support and encouragement when I truly needed it?”
The woman told KU football coach Terry Allen about the Feb. 26 incident — in which the football players allegedly fondled her against her will — on March 2. She said Allen discouraged her from going to police; he said Wednesday the woman misunderstood him and he “would support her 100 percent” if she went to police.
Thursday, the woman said that Allen “without question urged me to not report the attack to police because he said that with all the media attention such a report would have, it could get ‘very ugly.'”
Instead, she said, she let Allen handle the punishment, which she later discovered was extra sprints at practice. Frustrated, she reported the incident to Lawrence Police on April 28.
“I went to the police only after it became clear that the athletic department seemed more interested in protecting my attackers than they were in helping me seek justice,” the woman wrote Thursday.
The first sign of campus reaction came Thursday with a harshly worded letter to the University Daily Kansan by Carol Holstead, associate professor of journalism.
Holstead said Thursday afternoon that athletics department officials should have taken the woman to police immediately, instead of handling the incident themselves.
“Certainly, among the faculty I teach with, there is a general impression that the athletic department operates under its own rules,” Holstead said.
Ted Frederickson, professor of journalism, echoed Holstead’s comments. Frederickson said he met with the soccer player in the days before she went to police.
“Nobody stood up to be her advocate in the athletic department, nobody,” he said. “And that’s wrong.”
Autumn Ayers, a Wichita junior, said the incident has reinforced the notion that KU athletes get special privileges.
“They’re protected by the old-boy network, and it sucks,” she said.
Doug Vance, spokesman for the athletics department, said the department would have no more comment on the incident.
The accusations made news Thursday in papers across Kansas and on two national sports Web sites.
David Ambler, vice chancellor of student affairs, said the story was getting attention on- and off-campus.
“I have had several calls from people in the university who were concerned about the actions that were taken,” he said. “I’ve also had several calls from alumni who read about it in the newspaper.”
Frederickson, meanwhile, said he would call for a position in the athletics department to deal with women’s issues.
“I think people will see from this case that there is a serious problem,” he said.
“They’re concerned about the publicity. They ought to be concerned about her.”
